


The Tale of Scout Li: Book 1 Li

by Empress_of_Trash, TrashySide (Empress_of_Trash)



Series: Scout Zuko Li [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Book I is full of OC's because plot, Gen, Inspired by Fanfic, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, The Squad has been painstakingly assembled, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck, Zuko joins the Earth Kingdom Army, amnesia!Zuko
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-15
Updated: 2019-12-15
Packaged: 2021-02-26 16:41:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21801445
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Empress_of_Trash/pseuds/Empress_of_Trash, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Empress_of_Trash/pseuds/TrashySide
Summary: Zuko loses his memory and becomes an Earth Kingdom War Hero.
Relationships: Azula & Zuko (Avatar), Iroh & Zuko (Avatar), Lee & Zuko (Avatar), Zuko & Original Characters, Zuko & Responsible Adult Role Models
Series: Scout Zuko Li [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1571014
Comments: 69
Kudos: 967





	The Tale of Scout Li: Book 1 Li

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [OUTLINE: Amnesia!Zuko Joins the Earth Army](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20775464) by [MuffinLance](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MuffinLance/pseuds/MuffinLance). 



_...whatever happens. Never forget who you are._ It was a soft feminine voice whispering in his head around the ringing that wouldn’t stop and piercing through even the pain that blinded him. It left his mouth dry and made his stomach twist with each painful pound that moved from the back of his head forward.

The woman whispered to him, frantic and scared. He thought he felt phantom hands touching his face and smelled a subtle floral perfume. The woman sounded like she would cry and that hurt. Hurt more than his head. Something was wrong. Who was she? She needed help. He wanted to help. He had to help. She was important.

The ground under him jostled and it a sent a newer, intense wave of pain through him. He felt bile creeping up his throat and swallowed it back, head too pained for him to scream or think beyond the white brightness of it exploding behind his eye lids. It faded, slowly, horrifyingly, though the world kept moving in a swaying motion that didn’t help his nausea.

_Promise me._ The woman was pleading with him and it was so _wrong_.

_I promise_. He thought desperate trying to move his mouth around the pain. Trying to reassure her and make the _desperate-panic-bad-wrong_ in her voice go away.

He tried to think of a better response to assure her with. To tell her who exactly he was, but he couldn’t. All he found was pain. This time he managed a stifled scream, before he went silent at the stab in his skull. He couldn’t think passed the pain. He couldn’t find his name. His _anything_. The woman’s voice was fading away leaving a horrible gaping hole in his chest. In its place this time he definitely felt _real_ hands pressing timidly against him, small and callused. He could hear a voice babbling distantly through the _pain-pressure_.

“-please don’t die, please, please,” It was a child’s voice, scared and lonely and desperate just like the woman had been. He felt himself move in response to the clear need and was able to force his eyes open just for a moment to find a scrawny boy, light gray-brown eyes red with a mess of hair looking down at him. Something on the boy’s face lit up at the sight of him.

The boy felt familiar, but he couldn’t place him.

He opened his mouth to ask the boy what was going on.

Instead as the ground jerked and his stomach roiled, he said, “I’m going to vomit.”

And he did with a blinding burst of pain exploding in his skull. He closed his eyes and spewed. He managed to turn away from the boy when he did. He couldn’t stop, left a shaking sickly mess. When he finally did there were tear streaks on his face and his nose was running. The vomiting helped, strangely enough. It was like the building pain had been a bubble and as he got sick it had popped allowing it to deflate a little.

The ground jerked, the swaying ceasing, as lights danced in his vision. There was movement coming around one side. The boy was holding onto him on his right. He could hear shouting and pounding feet, though he couldn’t process what was being said. He was looking at his own bile, contained in a bucket that appeared to have been hastily shoved under him, and realized, numbly, that the world was made up of a wooden frame and canvas. He winced as the green canvass was ripped open, allowing a sudden, painful bit of light to hit him. His eyelids shut in self-defense.

He opened his eyes again, once he realized the shouting was closer, coming from the hole in the canvas. There was a man there, large and dressed in greens. He felt an instinctive aversion to the obvious uniform the man was wearing and even more when he saw the man’s face. It was strong face with a long hair under a bald top and unpleasant expression. There was something in the sharp turn of his lips and coldness in his eyes that set off warning bells.

This man looked like someone who enjoyed hurting others. He wasn’t sure how he knew, but he felt it was correct somewhere inside him.

Behind him he heard the boy shouting back, words unclear, but tone a mixture of defiant and terrified. Small hands clung to the back of his shirt tight, shivering fists pressing against his back. He tried to focus, not liking how the large man’s cruel narrow eyes drifted to the boy. With the attention away from him, he felt fear at the confusing situation for the first time. Not for himself, but for the boy.

( _He felt another stab of pain as his vision split remembering sharp terror at the sight of a large man bearing down on him with infinitely crueler, cold golden eyes, towering above his small form._ No, please stop _. He was_ sorry _._ )

He gasped and shakily pushed himself up, between the boy and the man. He was wobbly, but it broke the line of sight putting him back into focus and the motion silenced them both. The man looked at him with a mixture of disgust and smug satisfaction.

“Keep the brat quiet or he’ll get a taste of what insubordination means,” the man ordered with a pleased crooked smile and patted one of the large mallets he had at his hip to emphasis the point. His eyes flickered to the bucket beside him with disgust. “And if you are going to be sick, traveller. Do it _quietly_.”

He nodded, not trusting himself to speak and not wanting to antagonize the man with the boy vulnerable behind and himself so weak. The man seemed even more pleased at this allowing the canvas to drop and stepping back. The ground, wagon he realized, jostled a few moments later and the man’s voice called out orders for them to keep moving.

The small form pressed against his back relaxed when the man was out of sight. He turned back to look at the boy, eyes blurry and mind dragging with pain and exhaustion. The boy was young, somewhere indistinct between age between ten and twelve. He had a small pinched face and a prominent gap in the front of his teeth. His shoulders and limbs were thin, worryingly so, and his bones stood out prominently.

One of those small hands nudged the back of his head, making him jerk forward. The boy frowned, lips pursing and face scrunching up with a mixture of worry and guilt.

“It’s my fault,” the boy mumbled looking near tears and face drooping. “I fought back and then you tried to save me and _now you’re dying_ -”

“I’m not dying,” he snapped interrupting the boy who was getting distinctly more panicked and snottier as his tirade went on.

The boy looked doubtful, face in a crumbled drippy misery.

“It’s just a bump.” he said, voice getting firmer and ignoring the world spinning as he straightened up further, forcing himself to be steady. He didn’t like the guilt on the boy’s face over something he couldn’t remember.

A sharp poke on the back of his head made his vision dance with lights and his balance sway. He stubbornly kept steady, bracing a shaking hand behind him. He gave the boy the best glare he could manage.

“You were asleep for two days and you didn’t even talk back to Gow,” the boy said without a speck of guilt for his action, hand retreating back to his side. Thankfully, the boy didn’t seem inclined to poke his _head wound_ again.

“I’m fine,” he said again, through gritted teeth. He was. He was awake and even though he was still in pain and so, so very confused it was getting easier to focus. His thinking scattering less and the boy seemed a little calmer now that he was talking to him. It was a little concerning that he still couldn’t remember his name. Or who this boy he apparently knew well enough to save was. Or who Gow was.

The boy did not look convinced at his insistence of the minor nature of his wound. His eyes narrowed and his nose scrunched up as if the boy was concentrating very hard on something.

“You might have a concushion,” the boy said sagely. “Our neighbor got one after he fell of the roof during repairs a few summers back. I-I think you need to lay back and rest. Or, maybe, it was you were not supposed to rest?”

The boy seemed torn before settling on, “No, I think it’s resting. You can have the comfortable seat.”

The boy moved away and pointed to the spot he seemed to have been sitting on earlier. It looked like some feed bags, which seemed a margin more comfortable than the hard wood, but not by much.

“I’m fine,” he insisted. He wasn’t going to make a child lose his seat when he was _fine_.

And then, because he was getting sick of referring to the other as ‘the boy’.

“What’s your name?”

This triggered a flash of hurt across the boy’s flash that made him flinch more than any physical pain would. It was quickly trailed after by concern.

“...Lee,” the boy, _Lee_ , said after a moment.

He nodded pleased to now have something to call _Lee_ by. He asked the next most relevant question given the circumstances and Lee’s compliance.

“What’s my name?”

This made concern win out on the boy’s expression, but before Lee could answer, or start fussing, the wagon came to a halt. He realized, rather belatedly, he could hear a wider array of voices and movement outside, meaning they’d come somewhere populated. Lee, if anything, looked more afraid at that, and when the entrance opened, he moved himself to block Lee from sight.

The man, Narrow Eyes, he decided to dub him, was standing there, the light reflecting of the bald top of his head as he grinned.

“Welcome to your new home _recruits_ ,” Narrow Eyes said it with a deep sort of satisfaction that made him sure that wherever they were it wasn’t a good place to be. Narrow Eyes wouldn’t be so happy to bring them here if it was.

He was grabbed by the scruff and bodily dragged out. He wished he could have said he fought back or, at least, protested, but he didn’t. The moment Narrow Eyes dragged him out, it set his head spinning and he had to use all his energy not to tip over. He was pulled out and shoved against the back of the wagon, a rolled up scroll, cheap and likely mass produced for records he noted absently, pushed against his chest. He grabbed the edge of the wagon to steady himself. He did manage enough energy to snarl when Lee was dragged out, squirming and loud with the same rough treatment.

Narrow Eyes was not amused at the protest and loomed over him, all menace, fingering the two mallets pointedly. He straightened the best he could, angling himself between Narrow Eyes and Lee and keeping stubborn eye contact. Narrow Eyes looked like he was contemplating just where to apply his mallet. Then his eyes flickered over the uneasy stance he’d managed and the scroll. Narrow Eyes instead smiled like a tiger seal-shark that scented blood.

“I warned you about that attitude traveller, I’m sure the front lines will do plenty for beating it out of you,” Narrow Eyes said all rough and happy.

He did his best not to show his confusion at the sentence. Front lines? Did that mean there was a war? An army?

“Brand-new recruits to serve His Majesty’s army are perfect for the duty.” Narrow Eyes continued his vein. “And I even took the time to fill out your enlistment papers and approve them as a personal favor.”

Narrow Eyes leaned in with an insincere smile that showed all his teeth. “I’ll enjoy telling that pretty farm wife how happy you two were for the opportunity to serve.”

He was conflicted. Clearly this was something _bad_ that Narrow Eyes was trying to hurt them with. But inside him the idea of serving a nation and duty and honor stroke a chord of _something_. Something important. Lee behind him though kept him focused. Lee was just a child surely he couldn’t be part of the an army?

“Walk,” Narrow Eyes said, allowing no argument, and emphasized the point with one of the mallets, the sight of which had Lee flinch into his side.

He didn’t like that. Didn’t like that at all. He placed a comforting hand on Lee’s shoulder, feeling slightly awkward, but knowing that the boy needed some kind of reassurance. He steered Lee in the direction Narrow Eyes pointed, towards the sound of men he’d heard at what he could now see was a city of tents and rock structures. He made sure to stay in between them.

They walked.

. . .

He, as it turned out, was also Lee, though it was actually Li. The scroll shoved at his chest, at _Li’s chest_ , he had to remind himself of the name that didn’t feel like his, had contained a scant amount of information. It had been read over by a man, a solider of some kind in a similar green uniform the Narrow Eyes. The soldier, who had been sitting at a small portable desk with a wooden box that was painted green with a circular golden seal on one side and an open note book of some kind of record, had given them dubious looks. A few grins and a flash of a coin, though had the solider-scribe accepting the scrolls, stamping them and sending Li and Lee on their way to get kitted.

It was surreal. All he knew about himself was the little it contained. Li had been given it back after the soldier had written the information down and told to report to Lieutenant in charge of his new platoon with the scroll in hand. Lee was, thankfully sent with him. Li had paused long enough to read over the information hastily, hoping for _something_ to feel familiar and return to him. Lee hovered like a scrawny turtleduck mother, forcing him to sit and rest, before they continued. He looked distrustful of the other soldiers around the camp and lingered along the edges.

It bothered Li. It wasn’t directly insubordination, they had not been given a time limit, but something in him found the military camp’s organized set up and the sight of well-trained and armed soldier to be eerily familiar and almost comforting. Li itched with an odd instinct to respect and salute as if he himself was already a soldier and had been awhile.

But he wanted to know more, so he allowed himself to be corralled and seated because of his it’s-not-even-that-serious-stop-poking-it-please-don’t-pout-like-a-mini-cat-kitten head injury.

The scroll did and did not help. He read it again as Lee prodded him as gently as the child could.

_Name:_ _Li_

 _Birth date: 15_ _ th_ _Day of the Apricot Month, 5 Kuei, Ri Wu Era_

_Parents: Mother - Prostitute, Father - Unknown_

_Place of Birth: Hange Port, Cho Province_

_Place of Recruitment: Xinye Village, Yi Ming Province_

_Status: Non-Bender_

It was barely anything. None of it helped. It didn’t look familiar, not like Lee, just gave Li more information to be confused over. Little Lee, tucked his own scroll in the sash of his careworn clothes. The younger boy did not look happy at the daze that the information had left Li in, going on about cracked skulls and ‘his fault’ again.

Li tried to tell him, _yet again_ , to stop fussing, but he was interrupted by a sharp commanding voice, snapping in their direction.

“What are you doing there!”

Li was standing at parade rest, before he could even register the movement. It left him dizzy, but his body moved automatically in response to the _command-superior-officer-do-what-I-say-or-else_ tone in the snapping voice, before the words even registered. Lee hesitated for a few moments, before clumsily following Li’s lead and copying him.

The man the voice belonged to approached them with heavy steps, a clatter of armor announcing he was coming from the side of Li where his vision blurred around the edges. He was a large man dressed in darker greens than the soldiers, Li has started realizing those were _soldiers_ , who escorted him here. He wore the same dark green overcoat, but it was of finer make and split in the middles to show light armor underneath covering a forest green shirt and yellow pants, his arm guards were a similar forest green embedded with small stones. Unlike Narrow Eyes his clothes bore yellow embroidery and a section of deep golden threaded bars that seemed an indicator of rank on his left breast.

He had a sharper face than most of the soldiers with a paler coloring. The next part about him that stood out the most was he was younger than Li thought on officer, and he was clearly an officer based of his walk and the decoration, should be. He looked only to be in his early twenties, with a close cropped beard of black and long hair braided tightly behind him. His eyes were older though, an unusual amber color that for a moment looked gold and made Li balk to see while at the same time felt more familiar than the browns and greens that seemed the majority from there brief time here.

Beside him, Lee had a similar reaction when those eyes fell on him, which made Li feel slightly better.

The officer’s mouth tensed once he got a full view of them and his amber eyes, were both intense and confused. He looked quickly down at the scrolls in their hands.

“Papers.” the man said, snapped, as he regained his initial stern expression and Li offered his with both hands out and a ninety degree bow. He wasn’t quite sure if that was correct, but it felt right. He saw that Lee copied him out of the corner of his eyes with a careful precision.

The man looked over Li’s papers intently and then opened Lee’s. There was a quick strangled noise that made Li want to look up, but he remained in the position, having not been granted leave to rise.

(Respect must be learned, _a serpent voice hissed through his empty memory, ominous and threatening, making something in him quiver._ )

Lee had no such qualms and glanced up. Li risked a quick sharp elbow that made Lee glare in disbelief, but after a wary glance up at the man reading their papers, copied him again. The man cleared his throat and Li took that as permission to rise. Lee followed with a few seconds delay.

The man was frowning at them, his gaze sharp as he looked at their scrolls and then at them.

“These,” he said with a voice that came out low and easy. Somehow it shocked Li to hear. He had been expecting sharpness to match those eyes. “Papers say that you are both _sixteen_ and are _volunteers_. Is that correct?”

There was a clear disbelief and incredulous as the man spoke.

Li opened his mouth to answer, an officer asked a question, he was supposed to answer. He knew that, but the confusion and inability to answer staled him. He didn’t know if he was sixteen. Or if he was a volunteer. The way he arrived, injured and threatened said _no_ , but his comfort at the sight of the military camp and strange familiarity he felt for it said _yes_.

Li settled on an honest answer.

“I don’t know, Sir.”

“You don’t know.”

“No, Sir.”

There was a moment of silence before the man said, curt and low. “Follow me.”

Lee looked at him and it took a moment for Li to realize he was wanting assurance. Li wasn’t entirely sure if this was the right decision, but it, the military, was better than going back to Narrow Eyes. He nodded and Lee tucked beside him as they followed the officer across the camp under the curious gaze of soldiers.

They were brought to the biggest tent at the center of the camp, which Li noticed off-hand was arranged in in circular pattern with different groups clearly working as lookout. It was obviously the command center, the only tent in camp with a large golden circle seal, similar to what he saw decorating the uniforms around them, on the draping hanging before the entrance which acted as a makeshift door. It was five times as large as the other tents and had two sweeping extensions on both sides of the center. Beside it was a stone building, basic and looking strangely newly built that Li guessed was the infirmary based off the bandages hung to dry outside it and the medicinal smell mixed with blood coming from that direction.

The officer stopped at the entrance and looked at them with their scrolls clutched in hand. He seemed to be considering what to say before settling on a quick, “Wait _here_ until you are called.”

Li nodded, back straight and after a soft nudge, Lee did as well, though more grudging and half-behind Li. He was clearly nervous in the face of meeting the leader of this camp, but was trying to keep his face calm. A brave boy, Li decided, noting that the younger, at least he felt like Lee was younger than him and he was taller so it seemed to fit, was gripping a small white-and-green dagger tightly in his fist. It seemed to help calm him, so Li didn’t comment. He couldn’t think of anything really comforting to say irregardless.

Li had a distinct impression he may not be good at comforting people.

Instead Li nudged Lee slightly to the side out of the immediate entrance, keeping close to the boy and blocking him slightly from sight, using the tent as a shield. Lee seemed to relax at the closeness, so Li counted it as a victory.

It felt like ages, but couldn’t have been more than a few moments before the officer, parted the draping and gestured for them to come in. Li stilled himself and entered, not knowing what to expect.

The insides weren't lavish, like Li half-expected them to be, instead the surface area was optimized. The spacious size seemed needed to make room for the large stone table at the center. On top of the table the rock had carved designs and bumps in it that looked purposeful. It took Li a moment to put the images together as a map. The small figures, also made of stone, laid out in different formations helped with this realization. He couldn’t tell much with his brief glance over, but it looked like there was one force, the pointy pieces, coming up from the coast while the other force, the round pieces, defended the interior. The table was surrounded by chairs and to the left a space was reserved for a desk covered in papers and reports. The section also contained an armor stand and a large instrument of some kind. The other side had a cloth to separate it, but the cloth was tied up to reveal a cot and other personal affects that signaled it to be private quarters.

Then there was a man. His uniform was clearly higher ranking than the officer escorting him, complete with armor and a cape. He had a sharp jaw and cutting eyebrow of black across his broad tan face. His dark brown hair was combed out of the way and his beard was carefully tended, but long and thick. There were thick lines across his forehead and a scar bisecting his eyebrow and twisting one corner of his mouth.

He was also looking at them. The man starred with bright emerald eyes making contact with Li’s own. Eyes, he realized with a growing mixture of confused fury, that Li did not even know the color of. He was frozen and after a moment caught himself quickly enough to bow deeply and nudge Lee to do it as well.

. . .

Captain Tao Qian was having a bad day _before_ one of his Lieutenants walked in with a gaggle of children. Well, gaggle may have been an exaggeration, but there was a definite higher child to adult ratio than Tao found reasonable. Not that he’d known about the children before Lieutenant Daichi came in with a distressed wrinkle between his brows and a dishevelled rush to offer him two scrolls. It was a clear sign that something was wrong if Daichi, who had long learned the trick for calm, showed distress, period.

He was reluctant to open the scrolls.

It was bad enough that Fong’s fool errand had made them leave the Do Hwan Fortress and move back from the front lines on a basic mission to pick up new members for their company from the remainder of the 22nd Division. It was just his luck that the day before they’d arrived the 22nd had been attacked and taken prisoner. Tao did not want to know what was so horrible it phased the most unflappable of his officers.

He did take the scrolls though and found two seemingly normal samples of recruitment paperwork.

“Lieutenant,” Tao said, working to keep the confusion out of his voice. Kitting the recruits and settling them was a task that should have been accomplished easily. Sixteen was young and Tao would have preferred they were older, but legally they could not reject them, Though he was already planning ways to keep them in the safest positions possible for an infantry force until the boys were trained. “What exactly is going on here?”

Daichi looked like he was struggling to find his voice, expression strangely constipated looking.

“There are some irregularities in the forms,” Daichi settled on, voice rough and hands twitching.

“Irregularities?” Tao said, as patience as he could. He preferred it when his men spoke directly, but he’d grown used to Daichi’s habit of taking the longest most formal route possible in any conversation. The more upset the man was the more likely it was to occur.

Tao noticed that Daichi’s hands twitched again and finally gave into the urge to tighten into fists.

“I believe the forms were falsified.” Daichi said finally, voice taut and cutting to the quick of the matter. He’d fallen into a ready stance and his expression was fighting back a scowl. “I do not see how any officer could have approved them.”

Daichi was not just stressed or confused, he was furious. That was much more of an immediate concern. As far as Tao knew there were only two things that were actually capable of angering the man. Daichi’s brother-in-law was still serving in an administrative role in Ba Sing Se so it must have been the other one.

“It wouldn’t be the first time someone underage attempted to fool a recruiter,” Tao said sagely.

Daichi shook his head sharp and decided. “I hardly think it was with the boys’ consent.”

There was a dark edge in that tone and now Tao could feel a headache building preemptively. It would be one thing to turn away children with dreams of soldiering or vengeance. It would be another if there were implications of something more untoward.

“It may be best if I speak to them to access the situation,” Tao said and Daichi dipped into a quick automatic bow before summoning them.

He knew instantly what the man was talking about when the two boys, they were very _obviously_ boys, walked in.

The older one, some indistinct age between fifteen and sixteen, walked in first, back straight and body taut as a wire. He was dressed in dark greens that were worn and practical and a brown that seemed to blend in most colors to a muddy mix that superstition claimed drew away spirits. His dark fuzz of hair framed a moon pale face with sharp features sharpened further by starvation based on the hollows of his cheeks. There was a deep ugly scar that took up most of his left face, drawing instant attention to it. It spoke of a deep deliberate action that turned Tao’s stomach, knowing from the look of it, it had to be at least a year or more old, and it would be a miracle if he could see from the left eye at all. The scar distracted from his eyes. They were narrow and a true rare golden. _Dragon’s gold_ , a feminine voice whispered in his memory. They darted around the room quick and accessing, showing no obvious impairment, and spoke of a mixed heritage.

When the boy’s eyes caught his, he froze for one moment, before bowing deeply, respectfully. The other boy, significantly smaller and younger, copied the older in a more awkward copying of the formal smoothness.

The younger boy was wearing clothes that were worn and hanging together loosely. He was gawky and small, all bones and freckles with wild messy hair sticking out everywhere. He looked like a farm boy, a child that couldn’t be older than twelve, if he was generous. He was also clearly skittish, staying close to the teen and away from Daichi. He was Earth Kingdom born and bred and also clearly much too young for anyone sane to believe he was anywhere close to appropriate to recruit.

Tao pinched the bridge of his nose against the incoming headache. It was best to focus on the pain and his annoyance rather than a similar, slow burning fury that gripped him at the sight of children in his camp. The Earth Kingdom was not so defeated they would send boys to fight. Not yet and not ever if Tao could do anything about it.

He released a sigh and noted neither boy had moved.

“Rise,” he said and the boys obeyed, glancing at him warily. The teen looked slightly wobbly, but stayed upright with clear practice that was concerning.

“I have some questions about your paperwork,” Tao said in his best dealing-with-traumatized-civilians voice. “Can you confirm some facts for me?”

The teen didn’t say anything, but gave a reluctant nod.

“Your name is it Li or Chien? The writing isn’t quite clear,” Tao said it with a light tone attempting a joke to try and relax the teen. Instead the teen looked vaguely panicked and ill.

Silence dragged on before he spoke.

“I-I don’t know,” the teen said apologetic. “I can’t remember. I think the paperwork said Li.”

And the situation grew worse.

“Can you confirm any of the information on this form?” Tao said and the teen shook his head.

“I think I’m Li, but I don’t remember. I woke up when we were driven here,” he said and then added. “Sir.”

“And you?” Tao asked, turning to the younger boy, who was staring at the older with obvious worry. “Is your name Lee?”

“Yes!” the boy said, sounding almost offended to be questioned, but looked at the teen quick and distressed. “Big Brother got hurt by that jerk Gow! Then he dragged us here. I think he has a concushion!”

Two underage _abducted_ boys. One of whom was _injured_.

“Thank you Lee. I will need to look into this immediately,” Tao said and the boy seemed startled but relaxed a little. “For now I’d like you and your brother to see our medic. Concussions are a serious matter and Shingen will take good care of your brother. I’ll need you boys to stay with us until we can get you home.”

The teen, Li for now, looked floored and was staring at Lee wide eyed. Lee though looked relieved and impatient to drag his brother away.

“Lieutenant,” Tao said and Daichi straightened up. “Take these two to the medic and then settle them into the barracks. Put one of your platoon members in charge of keeping them preoccupied for now. Then report back so we can discuss plans further.”

Daichi bowed and the gleam in his amber eyes, sharp and dangerous, made Tao certain exactly what he wanted to do to whomever had sent these boys here with paperwork to stick them on the front lines. The boys bowed, well Li did and Lee offered a hurried imitation, and followed after the Lieutenant.

Tao could not get wait to return to Do Hwan, but first he was going to open a Shu-damned investigation into the recruitment practice of this backwater town and make sure the officer who abused his power over _children_ received every punishment it was in Tao’s power to give. He’d send someone out in the morning. For now he needed to finish going over the reports on the Fire Nation group that had attacked the 22nd.


End file.
